Lent calendar prayer and reflection for 9 April

“Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Turn your ear towards me and answer me quickly when I call.”

Psalm 101:2-3, 16-21 R v 2

Sailen is a community leader in a small town in Bangladesh. When our team visit him, he tells us about the increase in storms in his area, and the damage caused to crops.

“When the weather gets more severe and there are strong winds, we know a storm might be coming. So we start to prepare and wait for the warnings to come.

“If we hear the warning, we go to the cyclone shelter and take some food with us. The younger people in the village help the older people and those who are disabled. Sometimes they’ll help to carry people to the shelter.”

Our team asks him, "What’s your reaction when you hear the warning?"

“Bhaya, bhaya,” he replies. Everyone around him repeats the word, nodding. Fear.

Sailen goes on: “Then I think, ‘What should I do?’ We start preparing. Get together some dried food. Gather some clothes. And bring them to the shelter. There’s a big possibility we’ll see hurricanes here again in the future.

“Floods and salty water are so damaging to our crops and vegetables. Every year around October, there’s heavy rain and our fields flood with salty water. It takes around four months for the soil to be healthy enough to grow crops again. We lose a third of the year when we could be planting and growing.”

Lent prayer

Lord God, we ask you to enable us to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. May we listen to those in need, especially today to those who are facing the challenges caused by worsening storms, droughts and cyclones as our climate changes. May we never turn our faces away from those in distress. Amen.

Act

Use our resources to reflect on and respond to climate change in the light of Pope Francis’ important teaching in Laudato Si’.